The End Of The Affair
by classicasleep
Summary: After the disintegration of her marriage Hermione is broken. Refuge arrives from an unexpected source and soon she is whisked away into a romance with an unfaithful married man. Rated M for Sexual Content and Explicit Language.
1. Prologue

Hi Everyone!

So although this isn't my first fic I've written this is the first one I've decided to post on fanfiction, ever! I'm super excited for you to read this because I've been thinking about writing something like this for awhile. Although the prologue is pretty much all Hermione/Ron I really wanted to include it as the intro to the story but here on out it's all Draco/Hermione. If you're a child or don't enjoy reading smut then I suggest you avoid reading this fic, as in the latter chapters I'm anticipating sexual content.

Please review and I'll try to update as promptly as possible!

Much Love,

Ann

* * *

**~~Prologue~~**

~The End~

"Ron" she pleads, grabbing his arm as he turns, walking away from her. She hadn't meant to be diminished to begging by him but here she was, with tears falling from her brown eyes.

"Hermione, stop" he requests, his voice hoarse.

"You didn't mean it, please tell me you didn't mean it" she urges, pushing him, trying to convince herself this isn't happening.

"I don't feel the same way" he tries.

"Don't say that" she says brashly, forcing him to turn to look at her.

"Stop" he warns her, turning again towards the floo, his suitcase in hand.

"After all that's happened between us?" she shakes her head, still trying to comprehend how she ended up here, in the middle of the night, defending her marriage.

"The war ended a long time ago" he states factually, clenching his jaw: _she's too stubborn_.

"So what?!" she snaps.

"The world's changed, we've changed, I've changed" he reiterates. Their argument was going in circles.

"Don't say that" she says biting her lip. He hated when she did that because he couldn't resist that face and the temptation to just drop the subject and go back to bed with her.

"Hermione I don't feel the same way I did all those years ago" he says looking down at his feet in shame.

"We just need to keep at it, it will work out" she sobs, shaking now anxiously. He wants to hold her in his arms and tell her it's okay but he resists.

"I can't do this anymore" he stresses.

"Don't do this" she moans, _I can't live without you._

"I don't want to hurt you anymore" he bellows, tears welling in his eyes.

"Ron, please don't give up on us" she goes on.

"It's not you it's me" he spits out rashly, without thinking. He braces himself for her reply quickly. _Idiot._

"Don't give me that horse shit" she yells back at him angrily. _No way could he pull some stupid cliché out of his arse and think it can work on me_.

"This just isn't working anymore" he says, raising his voice to emphasize the point.

"Ron…" she pleads again.

"I need to figure things out, I need to find myself again" he laments, avoiding her gaze.

"And you can't do that with me" she states it as if it were a fact, as if she were explaining the idea to not only him but herself due to its absurdity.

"Hermione we haven't spoken to each other in months" he reminds her, thinking of all the times she had given him the cold shoulder.

"What do you mean, that's absurd!" she concludes quickly, pushing the idea out of her mind knowing all too well that it was true.

"I mean really talked, it's like we're going through the motions but they don't have any backbone to them" he testifies.

"Then talk to me" she bargains.

"It isn't that simple" he says, exasperated.

"Then explain to me why." She hated having to ask him again.

"We aren't the same people we were before, I'm not the same guy you met at Hogwarts, you aren't the same girl I fell in love with" he went on, his last point making her let out an aching sob. He hated to see her this way but it had to be done.

"So you're leaving me" she whimpers, not bothering to wipe away the tears streaming down her face.

"You can't just stand there and honestly say to me you haven't felt it too. We've been growing apart since the end of the war. I thought you were the one so I asked you to marry me but I was foolish-"

"No-" she interrupts stubbornly.

"I'm going to go" he interjects over her sternly. Fear entered her body and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Don't leave" she replies quietly after a beat.

"I just need time to think" he drones on. _Stop making excuses_ she thinks.

"You have all the time in the world to think!" she yells, exasperated, "you can think and be with me!"

"You've got so much ahead of you" he says, sorrowfully, intimately, acceptingly. He takes her hand in his. "You don't need me anymore." He vows, withdrawing it. Hermione felt the weight of his wedding ring in her hand before she saw it, shining under the light of the lamp in their living room.

"We don't have to figure this out all right now, just come back to bed!" she urges desperately. "We can talk about it tomorrow, we can go see a marriage council-" she continues before he interrupts her.

"I don't see how it's going to work" he retorts, frustrated, trying to make her let go. _Just stop_.

"Please don't do this." She cries to herself. "You don't mean it" she tries to convince him and herself once again. "This is just a fight we're having, we can get past this. Don't I mean anything to you?" she remarks, throwing the ring back at him. Her statement hits him like a tsunami.

"You're making this so hard when I'm just trying to do the right thing," he recovers, bending over and picking the band off the floor slowly, meaningfully, "trying to do what's best for you, what's best for us" he continues, standing up, looking right into her red and strained eyes.

"You don't know anything about what's best for me" she taunts, "what's best for me is for you to stay here, with me, forever" she insists poorly as he takes steps closer to the floo.

"I can't!" he shouts, his tone shaking her.

They look into each other's eyes with agony. Her chest was heaving, holding back the hard sobbing. He ached to take back everything, to kiss her all over her soft skin, make love to her and tell her this was a horrible mistake. To crawl into her embrace and whisper sweet nothings to her, give her the whole damn world, no, the universe if that's what it took to show her he loved him; but instead he just closed his eyes.

"I'm going to stay with Harry and Ginny" he states emptily as he steps into the floo. Turning around, looking at her weakened body regrettably, "I'm sorry."

She opens her mouth to say something but instead puts her face in her hands and weeps in defeat.

"Hermione, our marriage is over" he declares finally. He quickly grabs a handful of floo powder, and she goes quiet. _No_ she pleads _no._ Silence fills the room as they stand there. He hesitates for a moment, and she looks up. They stare at each other with dead eyes.

"But I love you" she whispers painfully.

He frowns, closes his eyes and purses his lips, they were the last words he wanted to hear coming from his wife's mouth. He swallows the large lump in his throat as he brings up his hand, shaking, and tucks the hair in her face behind her ear longingly. Shedding a tear he caresses her cheek and kisses her for the last time. The kiss is painful, desperate; they can taste the salt from tears on the other's lips. She puts her hand on his cheek and he closes his eyes as he brings up his own to remove hers. He places is ring in her hand once more and closes it.

Before he can take everything back and before she can convince him, he drops the powder from his hand and says with his voice strained "27 park avenue" burning up in green flames, them disappearing before each other's eyes.

He apparates in the Potter's floo and Harry stands to look at Ron with fear, his newspaper hitting the table askew, and Ginny puts her teacup down and looks at him with wide eyes. Ron then collapses to the floor and breaks down unashamedly in front of his best friend and his sister.

Kilometres away Hermione drops to her knees and she thinks she can feel her heart break into a million pieces as she hugs herself and sobs violently into her hands, into the rings that once bonded her and Ron together in holy matrimony.

_Once_.


	2. Crossed Paths

**~~Chapter 1~~**

~Crossed Paths~

Hermione groans as her alarm goes off, signalling the beginning of another day which was almost guaranteed to be terrible.

It had been months since the divorce had gone through and she was still moping. She took a few weeks off work from her job at the ministry, not bearing to face anyone. She holed herself up at their home while Ron hid away at Harry's and after the proceedings went through her and Ron mutually agreed in the settlement to sell the house and many of the things in it, each buying their own places, filling it with their own things and moved on.

Their relationship was over, but in the process not only did the divorce destroy their relationship it put a strain on other aspects of her life. Ginny had taken Ron's side after the argument whereas Harry had taken hers, causing a strain on their marriage until they finally reconciled. After her leave of absence from the ministry she came back to find to her relief that she had transferred to a different office which was, most importantly, one that Ron would be nowhere near.

He never tried to contact her and she never asked Ginny or Harry or anyone about him, Harry purposely dropping comments telling her of his status of things, and noticed he had failed to mention that he had started dating other women. When she found out she decided to destroy their old wedding rings with fiendfyre rebelliously.

She gets out of bed and walks into the bathroom, dragging her feet and wiping her eyes. She looks at herself in the mirror and sees the same girl that she had become for the past few months: the Hermione with the empty eyes that had dark circles around them, the one with the sunken face, terribly skinny and terrible posture, the one that no one wanted to see. She grabbed her wand and started completing her set of glamour charms and once they were done she looked like the old Hermione, the one who had colour in her face, the one whose life hadn't fallen apart.

She strips down and changes into her work clothes, following her usual ritual. She puts on whatever bra and knickers she can find, _it's not like anyone wants to shag a sulking divorcee_ she thinks bitterly_._ She pulls a light blue scoop neck blouse over her head and shimmies a black pencil skirt over her boney hips, zipping up the side. She steps into her heels and stuffs her hands into the arms of a grey cardigan, shifting it over her shoulders and pulling her hair out from under the back. She then grabs her purse, her travel mug with tea, and takes the floo to the ministry.

She walks through the lobby confidently although she's anything but, exchanging pleasantries with her coworkers as she makes her way to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She steps into the elevator and is greeted by Harry.

"Morning Hermione, how are you doing this morning?" he says, in a cheery mood.

"I'm fine, thanks" she flashes him a small smile and takes a sip of her tea, continuing the façade.

"You look smashing" he flatters.

"Don't let Ginny find out you said that" she says as they arrive at the department and walk out of the elevator side by side.

"I'd love to chat but I've got a lot of work on my plate today so I'll catch up with you later!" Harry says as he walks swiftly to his office, waving back at her.

"Alright" she waves back, walking towards her office in the opposite direction. Harry was an Auror along with Ron while she worked for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office and the Improper Use of Magic Office.

As she walks through the department she can feel the stares. She thought since the divorce had happened months ago the attention it brought on her would start to wane after a certain point but evidently it hadn't happened yet. She felt like a walking and talking Manticore. The worst part was the whispers, strangers talking behind her back making remarks as if they knew a damn thing about her failed marriage.

"He was right to leave her, she's a controlling slag"

"I heard she shagged the brains out of Victor Krum at her bachelorette party, he should have known she was bad news from the start!"

She quickens her pace and closes the door to her office quickly behind her, falling into her desk chair. She then quickly settles in and proceeds to bury her face in reports of underage use of magic, hoping time will pass expeditiously so she wouldn't have to suffer for long.

Draco groans as he finds himself in the early afternoon walking towards the office of the person who he considered once to be one of the most unfavourable people in the whole wizarding universe. He hadn't spoken to her since him and his family had defected at the end of the war and was honestly surprised he hadn't crossed paths with her before now. He was a higher up in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry of Witch Watchers and the Hit Wizard Squad. He needed a file that was in her possession and had meant to send one of the pencil pushers to go get it but they were all nowhere to be found and then again he could never pass up a chance to taunt the girl. Old habits die hard.

Before the knock on the door even registered in her brain the blonde-haired devil is already stepping through into her office, letting himself in. She stands up, flustered, the papers that were in her hand slipping out and onto the floor.

"Grang- wait, no, Weasley now right? Long time no see" he smirks, stuffing his hands into his suit pockets smugly.

_Sure, just walk into my office without me inviting you in, what a prat _she thinks. _Years later and he's still the same._

"Yes you can come in Malfoy," she says with venom as he chuckles. "Please, sit," she says, quickly picking up the papers off the floor, _damn Merlin to Azkaban for my hard luck._

"So how are things" he says, folding his hands in his lap, staring at her intently, waiting for their banter to begin.

"Just smitten," she expresses heavily with sarcasm, "and it's Granger" she continues quietly, hoping it would slip past their conversation.

"Oh really? I thought you and Weasel got hitched" he replies in surprise, analyzing her face, realizing it was a touchy subject. _Perfect. _She puts her hand on the exposed part of her chest, suddenly feeling like he could just see her breath quicken, revealing too much.

"We did" she admits, wincing, looking down at the papers in front of her to avoid his icy stare.

"So you didn't take his name?" he concludes.

_God is he really that thick?_ she thinks to herself.

"Good call, Hermione Weasel doesn't have a nice ring to it like Granger does" he teases her, thinking he has the upper hand. _She's lost her touch._

"No…" she says, swallowing heavily, pausing as it finally clicks in Draco's brain: "we got divorced."

He immediately regrets questioning her about it, mentally slapping himself for being such a dolt. _She's divorced, god damn it Malfoy get your shit together. There's nothing funny about tormenting a poor divorced girl._

"Good call Granger breaking it off, he was twat" he replies after a moment of careful recalculation._ Less than a minute into the conversation and you're already being an idiot._ She feels as if she's about to cry.

"Actually… he left me" she discloses, hoping not to lose it, right there, in front of her childhood enemy.

"What?! What a wanker!" he exclaims, taken off guard. _Weasel dumped Granger? He must be a blumbering fool._ Hermione just wants to disapparate and throw herself off a cliff than be sitting here across from Draco Malfoy, her emotions open for him to see. This was her worst nightmare.

"Look, Malfoy, what do you want?" she snaps at him, clearly exasperated at the situation unfolding in her office. _I don't need to explain myself to him._ He wants to obliviate her and try this over again without it ending in total shit.

"I'm looking for an old file on a Miss Hall?" he quickly says, getting down to business. Hermione is relieved as she uses a spell, making the file fly from a drawler in the filing cabinet into her hand.

"Here" she passes the file to him, alleviated. Their hands touch in the exchange, dwelling longer than appropriate. She flinches first, pulling her had away and looking away from him again.

_God what is going on_? He is just dying from embarrassment from the whole situation and the fact that he was now blushing.

His hand felt warm against hers, comforting, _wait what am I thinking?! This is Draco Malfoy!_ she mentally scolds herself.

"Thank you" he murmurs awkwardly.

"The pleasure is mine" she affirms, the air growing thick.

"Well I better get back to work" he declares; jumping up out of his seat, ready to get out of there as fast as possible. She was glad, wanting him to do the same thing.

"Close the door after you" she asks him as he walks out of the room. But, just as he's about to close the door he stops himself.

"Look… Granger…" he starts, not really sure where he was going with this.

_What is he trying to pull?_

_What am I doing?_

"I'm sorry about Weasley, the guy's a twit" he stammers brashly, surprising them both.

He anticipates her response, her reaction to his sudden apology. She was stunned; the Draco she knew never apologized for anything, let alone something that Ron had done to hurt her.

She just nods and he leaves her quietly, file in hand, both of them thinking:

_What the hell just happened?_

* * *

Sorry if this chapter wasn't as exciting as the prologue but just stay with me and we'll get through it!

Please review and tell me what you think or if you have any ideas you want to share!  
~the more reviews the faster I'll post new chapters!~

Thanks!

Ann


	3. Outcomes

Hey there friends! Sorry this chapter took so long, I've been pretty busy with things.

Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this chapter. Although it's not super crazy I promise you it'll start to pick up pretty quickly here!

Please leave me reviews or messages! I love to get everyone's input on how things are going and I'm super open to ideas you guys have!  
~the more reviews the faster I'll post new chapters!~

Thanks,

Ann

* * *

**~~Chapter 2~~**

~Outcomes~

Draco, rattled, nearly sprints away from Hermione's office as if his life depended on it. _Merlin that did not go at all how I thought it would have _he thinks, running his hand through his pale blonde hair. He slows his pace and realizes his heart is racing; his hand is tense, gripping the file Hermione had handed to him moments earlier.

"Divorced" he says through his teeth, closing his eyes and shaking his head. How come he hadn't heard of this before? Although him and Hermione didn't run in the same circles he would have thought that at least someone would have told him, thinking maybe it would have pertained to him in some way, to avoid the state of affairs that had just unraveled in that office just then. He may have been before, but he wasn't cruel.

He gets lost in his thoughts but is shaken back into reality by a hand on his shoulder.

"You look like you've seen a ghost mate!" Blaise Zabini says, laughing at Draco's white face.

"I might as well have" Draco replies, shaking his head and shaking his hand off his shoulder.

"What happened?" Blaise asks, looking over Draco and spotting the file in his hand.

"Nothing," Draco blows it off, recollecting his cool.

"Whatever you say bud, but it looks like you must have just paid a visit to our lovely Mrs. Weasley" he observes, pointing out the file.

"It's still Granger now" he restates. Blaise raises his eyebrows.

"Oh that must have not gone over well" Blaise laughs unfortunately.

"No, really," Draco retorts sarcastically, "did you know?"

"Of course I did, I'm not completely daft like you" he scoffs and chuckles to himself.

"And you decided not to tell me? Thanks a lot for that" Draco grumbles, rolling his eyes.

"Okay well, the big boss was looking for you while you were off embarrassing yourself" he tells Draco, who then takes swift strides towards the office of the head of the department.

"Malfoy, please, come in," he says, waiving him in and motioning him to sit in the chair.

"Thank sir," he utters politely, sitting down.

"Look Draco, I know you've been looking into the Hall case, and I would really like it to be dealt with once and for all. I know you're one the best we've got here, so I'd like you do lead the watch" he informs, leaving Draco a bit surprised.

From what Draco had learned from his research, Miss Catherine Hall was a notoriously troublesome young witch. She had been logged as casting multiple spells around or towards muggles, magically altering muggle artefacts and was a deliberate truant at Hogwarts.

"We've been sending Ministry Owls telling her to cease her inappropriate behaviour but they either been ignored or evaded all together. I need a team to find her and give her a final warning or else we're going to have to have to call her into a Wizengamot Trial." He warns him. Draco just nods.

"So put a team together and put this whole situation to rest promptly and swiftly. I want this dealt with quickly but I want it done right, so you know what to do," he continues.

"Yes sir," Draco confirms.

"I expect you'll be attending the Final Battle Anniversary Ball tomorrow so I expect the plans will be in motion and will be executed as soon as that has passed," he reminds him. _Damn how could I have forgotten?_ he thinks to himself. Draco usually tried to have something planned so he couldn't attend but he had been so preoccupied with work and had just come off of a Hit Wizard sting that he had completely forgotten.

"Of course sir," Draco assures regretfully.

"That will be all. Don't disappoint me Mr. Malfoy," he raises an eyebrow at him, and Draco nods.

"I won't," Draco ensures, getting up and walking out of his office and heading towards his office to start drawing up plans for the rest of the day.

* * *

_Even Draco thinks he's a twit, I'm such an idiot_ she thinks, leaning back in her chair and putting her hand on her forehead. _And what the hell was that just then? Draco of all people. I must be mental. _She takes a deep breath and calms herself.

_Alright, I just need to get back to work and I'll forget all about it, _she convinces herself but after fighting to get her thoughts under control for what seems like an eternity, she gives up, frustrated. She was sick to her stomach, which almost always happened when she dwelled over thoughts of her divorce. She hadn't had any food all day yet she felt throwing up. She was so occupied with her thoughts she didn't even bother to reinforce her glamour charms so she had slipped back into her pale, dark eyed face.

Even though she didn't get much work done after speaking with Draco she had worked until late in the evening, as she usually did. She liked to stay late to get more work done but after the divorce she stayed late to avoid running into anyone on her way home.

She sombrely grabs a few files together, putting them in her purse as she tidies up her office to close up for the evening. She quietly shuts the door behind her as she leaves and locks the door. She crosses her arms as a chill runs through her while she walks through the now dim and empty department. She pushes the call button for the elevator and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as someone says her name from behind her.

"Hermione?" they ask. She turns to see Ron standing behind her. She's taken aback, she hadn't meant to see anyone this late in the office, let alone him. She finds herself suddenly self-conscious of her appearance without her charms since this was exactly the reason she had been casting them in the first place.

"Ron," she manages to sputter out, "I didn't know you were staying in the office this late," she stammers while avoiding looking at him in the eye.

"Yeah well, Harry and I are working on a big case right now and I stayed in late to do some research…" he explains awkwardly, droning off. The elevator arrives and they both step in hesitantly. Silence resumes.

"So how are things going these days?" he asks, trying to initiate small talk.

"They're still going I guess," she replies soberly, fixating on the alarm button on the elevator's console. _Ugh today is literally the worst._

"That's good," he says quietly after a beat. They remain quiet until the elevator doors open and they walk towards the floos, Ron walking a step behind Hermione the entire time. Hermione is just about to throw down her dust before she hears Ron say, "well it was nice seeing you," sincerely. She drops her floo and says her home Address without a reply, broken.

She appears in her small flat and immediately throws her purse down on her couch deliberately. She then grabs the bottle of firewhiskey from her cupboard and takes large swig. She can feel it burn all the way down her throat into the pit of her empty stomach. She's relieved she can feel something other than nauseous.

She spots a plate of food on her kitchen counter and knows it's from Ginny. Ginny had noticed and relentlessly bothered Hermione of her weight loss and had been leaving food for her for when she could. She always claimed she had made too much and didn't want it to go to waste but Hermione knew that Harry was an eating machine who could probably eat himself to death and would still feel hungry. She usually ate the food, knowing that Ginny was right to worry about her, but instead she throws it away without another thought.

She walks into her bedroom, bottle in hand, and strips down into a tank top and a pair of baggy sweatpants. She collapses onto her bed, taking another large swig from the bottle and pulls out a box of old photos from under her bed. She then begins to drink herself to sleep while looking at old photos of herself.

She almost drinks the whole bottle before she passes out, thinking and wondering how that girl in the photos could have ever turned into the woman she was now.


End file.
